After leaving Lima and starting to head south, Paracas is the first place almost every stops to break up the long road trips and get some activities ticked off the list. There is one place I would recommend stopping before you even get to Paracas though and that is Chincha Alta.
Chincha is a small town just off of the coast and is on the way from Lima to Paracas and so it is likely the bus you take (whether it is a tourist or local bus) will let you stop here.
We stopped off for a couple of hours at one of the last remaining plantation houses from the colonial era called Casa Hacienda San Jose which is absolutely beautiful. We took a quick tour around the church, house and even underground tunnels that were used in the slave trade. During this we learnt a fair bit about the history of its house and about slavery in the region.
The house’s modern use is as a Hotel; complete with hammocks hung from palm trees,a volleyball court, a swimming pool and even a restaurant. The perfect place to relax and make the most of the desert heat for an afternoon or a short stay.
Just an hour down the road again and you reach Paracas. A small port town mostly visited for its access to the Ballestas islands and the Paracas nature reserve.
There are two ways of exploring the nature reserve; either by tour bus or in mini dune buggies. Having just been stuck on a bus for our trip from Lima we obviously chose to go in the dune buggies. These dune buggies however were less buggy and more go kart so you get to drive them yourself around the reserve following behind a guide.
What we weren’t told before doing this is the name Paracas originally translates to sand storm; which is exactly what we ended up in!
After driving head on into the wind with little more than sunglasses as protection we arrived at the first stop in tears and half blind. At this point they conveniently have a little shop selling swimming goggles and bandanas as protection which we promptly bought only for the wind to then completely disappear rendering our new purchases useless.
Despite the traumatic start this trip turned out to be a load of fun with some great viewpoints out over the desert and beaches from the top of the cliffs.
That evening we headed to the Viajero hostel which seemed to be the main social location in the town. In true hostel fasion it was a lively night with free shots for anyone taking part in the ping pong tournament or salsa classes and beers for just £2
The other main trip Paracas has to offer is the boat trip to the Ballestas islands. With our Itinerary the only time we would have been able to go was at 6am and so I opted to be lazy and have a pool day. However those of the group that did go said the islands were very beautiful and its a great place for spotting wildlife like sealions, various bird species and sometimes even penguins. After seeing some of the photos of the trip its one I probably should have gone on and looked well worth the £10-15 tour price.
